Thoughts on Timaeus Part Deux

 

              I ended Part I after a long reflection on the importance of math, specifically proportion, and even more specifically the golden ratio followed by some short comments on the Trinity. Part II will focus more on the specifics of the great creation myth that Plato bequeaths to us in Timaeus. From late antiquity onwards it was said that Parmenides (the next dialogue I will post about) was Plato’s focus on theology and Timaeus was his focus on science. There is a lot of truth to that in my opinion and Plato wasn’t only concerned with pondering eternal realities and being more of a rationalist than an empiricist. That was primary for him, no doubt, as it should be to any sane person – but he was more balanced than that. “A man may sometimes set aside meditations about eternal things, and for recreation turn to consider the truths of generation, which are probable only; he will thus gain a pleasure not to be repented of, and secure for himself, while he lives, a wise and moderate pastime” (59c-d). Those were Plato’s thoughts on exploring what we now regard as scientific concepts – things prone to change and largely understood through inductive reasoning and empirical observation. That makes me feel better about my career choice to be a chemist!

              Anyways, we were dealing with the account of the creation of the cosmos, which is a living animal, in fact, it is a “blessed god” (34b). Timaeus postulates that the universe would be spherical since that is the most perfect and beautiful of all shapes. Since it is a living animal: where are its ears, eyes, mouth, etc.? It doesn’t need them, he says, because since this animal encompasses everything in existence there is nothing outside of itself to sense. Similarly, that is why it requires no external food and doesn’t expel waste – nowhere to expel waste into and no external source of food. In fact, he says his waste is his own food (33c) – I think this might be an early proto-description of conservation laws (of energy, mass, matter, etc.). The demiurge made the universe so self-sufficient because another way of describing perfection is by showing that those who have it lack nothing. This is a theme that is ubiquitous in Plato’s thought—we should strive for self-sufficiency—a moral discipline I heartily endorse. As a living animal the universe requires a soul. That was the very definition of the soul (psyche) in ancient times – the entity that imbues a living thing with life. I’m made of matter just like a rock is, but a rock probably isn’t typing essays on ancient philosophy. What makes that difference is soul or psyche and even animals and plants have it since they also move under their own power and make decisions in a way inert gases and minerals can’t. But maybe all that has to be revisited since the universe has a soul which is both at its center and diffuse throughout.

              Plato has a lot to say on the soul – for him, the soul would have to be made before the body since it is more excellent and the ruler of the body. That is off the table for me as a Christian – the 5^th Ecumenical Council ruled out the idea of the preexistence of souls as heresy and I agree. Anyways, the soul of the cosmos or World-Soul was the first thing created. It was made by compressing Sameness, Difference, and Being into one compound that is uniform and then dividing it up in proportions established by the golden ratio as I mentioned before. This is how we can unite the divine, eternal, intelligible realm to the mortal and contingent one. The body of the universe is actually, somehow, inside the World-Soul – united to it center to center. It is the visible, tangible, and smaller part completely enveloped by the soul (37a). It would’ve been great if the universe could’ve been eternal but that is literally impossible for a created thing, so he did the next best thing – created time, which is the moving image of eternity. Why couldn’t the universe have been eternal is a question you might be asking yourself. The word is often used in many senses these days. The way Plato defines eternal is that which always IS and never becomes – it has no beginning, middle, or end – it is the same and never changes. In fact, it isn’t proper to use any verb tense besides the present to describe the eternal since it never changes. Does the universe seem like this type of thing?

              Timaeus says that time and the universe came into existence at the same instant – which sounds right to me, although I’m not a cosmologist – it’s been a while since I’ve read up on that stuff. After this, the demiurge created the sun so there would be a way to measure the relative speeds of planetary orbits and thus night and day were born. Next, he made creatures—Plato puts them into 4 classes. There are air creatures, water creatures, land creatures, and celestial creatures (gods). The created gods were the first creatures made – they were circular beings made of fire so they would be bright and beautiful (i.e., stars). I find it exceedingly interesting how he addressed them when they were first awakened.

“Gods, children of gods, who are my works and of whom I am the artificer and father, my creations are indissoluble, if so I will. All that is bound may be undone, but only an evil being would wish to undo that which is harmonious and happy. Wherefore, since ye are but creatures, ye are not altogether immortal and indissoluble, but ye shall certainly not be dissolved, nor be liable to the fate of death, having in my will a greater and mightier bond than those which ye were bound at the time of your birth” (41b).

I’ve heard people say that Plato thought the soul was immortal in itself, but they obviously haven’t read Timaeus – that idea is directly contradicted here, where Plato holds the idea that the soul is only held in being by God, something Christians can agree with him on. It also seems to lead inexorably to universal salvation, but that is a topic for another day.

The other 3 classes of creatures were created by the gods – they couldn’t be created directly by the demiurge or else they would be equal to the gods – the demiurge just creates the divine part of creatures. I’m not sure if he means soul or intellect here. Every creature even plants have souls, as I mentioned, but not all have intellects, which is the highest of the 3 parts of the soul. Another thing I found interesting, but not sure if it means anything is that the word imitation is used a lot more in this dialogue than the typical Platonic idea of participation. I think that may just reflect the fact that from this angle we are seeing things from the opposite way than is typical. We normally say that sensible things participate in Forms, etc. because Forms are higher than sensible things – so we are looking at it from lower à higher. Now we have the gods imitating the demiurge and the demiurge imitating the eternal forms – going from higher à lower. Not sure if that is correct, but once I read some commentaries I’ll know more. Things start getting weirder when the creation of mankind takes place. The demiurge created human souls by pouring the physical elements into a cup with the remnants of the World-Soul (after creating the gods), which is now more diluted and less pure. He made a soul for every star and appointed one star to guide every human soul – which is interesting. That means Plato probably knew there were countless stars in the sky, and we see a parallel with the Christian idea of guardian angels. I would like to research the history of this idea – there is so much to learn! Mankind was made as the most religious animal. A famous quote I know goes like this “Fish swim, birds fly, and man prays.” So true.

Timaeus then exhorts us to live a good life. To live righteously and be good humans we must conquer the hindrances of pleasure, pain, fear, and anger. All of these can lead you off-track in your quest for virtue. We need to give our soul stability – when things are calmer, steadier, and more moderate the soul becomes more rational and can make better decisions. If we neglect education, we do so at our own peril – we will remain imperfect and good for nothing. If you fought the good fight you would dwell in your appointed star forever after you died. If you didn’t, you would be reborn as a woman and then progressively worse things until the toil becomes so burdensome that reason would become victorious over irrationality and you would be restored to your first and better state (42d). A couple of things here. First off, of course being reborn as a woman shouldn’t be considered a punishment. For all his greatness, Plato was still an ancient man and a bit behind the times on this. Secondly, I completely agree that evil has embedded within it the means for its own destruction. I truly believe that you can only get so far into evil until you’ve finally had enough, and reason eventually will force you to stop doing stupid, senseless things. Unfortunately, not everyone reaches that point in this life but I’m confident God will stop at nothing to save his children and the means of that salvation is embedded in how he constructed reality. Here’s what Gregory of Nyssa says in De Hominis Opificio XXI. Evil has prescribed limits while the good is infinite. Evil is like a shadow, there is a certain prescribed area where the shadow is, and light is everywhere else. Also, our nature as finite creatures is one of ceaseless change, so this means that over an infinite amount of time all possibilities for evil will be exhausted and we must of necessity turn to the Good. Another way to put it is that evil never overcomes what is good in the long run and our mutable nature cannot resist the infinite and all-powerful Good forever.

Next, we move on to the creation of the body (done by the gods and not the demiurge). The most divine part of us is the head – the master of the rest of the body – that’s why it is globe shaped, the most perfect and divine shape. The body, as a whole, is oriented to move forwards and that’s why the most important body parts are in our front. This may all seem like a bunch of weird, handwavy, ad hoc explanations – but that’s because Plato was trying to see the higher, more spiritual purposes of everything and relate to that through metaphor – it wasn’t meant to be taken literally. That is why he was such a big proponent of seeking knowledge. Things imbued with mind create order and make things good and beautiful. Things that lack intellect produce randomness and ugliness; we should always seek to follow reason. In keeping with this he explains our senses in this metaphorical way as well. He says there are scientific explanations for all of them, but these are secondary and pale in comparison to the primary and higher purposes for the senses. Here is how he explains what he holds as the greatest of the sense faculties: sight.

“Sight in my opinion is the source of the greatest benefit to us, for had we never seen the stars and the sun and the heaven, none of the words which we have spoken about the universe would ever have been uttered…. from this source we have derived philosophy, than which no greater good ever was or will be given by the gods to mortal man” (47a-b)

Sight was given to us in order to behold the heavens and to try to imitate the unerring counsels of God that we see manifested there into our own lives. Hearing was given to us to behold harmony so that we remember to apply harmony to our souls. Of course, you can also say that sight and hearing were adopted evolutionarily so we could distinguish prey from predator, but that really does seem rather dreary if not placed alongside the more beautiful purposes outlined above.

              We move onto the creation of the elements now. Timaeus reiterates that all that he is saying is only a likely story (of course the most likely in his opinion), but he is under no delusion that he has certain knowledge of these matters and thus begs God to help him formulate an explanation (48e). He begins by stating that all things belong to one of three classes. There are eternal and invisible intelligible patterns (Forms), the visible imitations of these eternal patterns (creatures), and the receptacle which is the “nurse” of all generation. The receptacle is the universal nature which receives all bodies – she constantly appears different because she receives other forms to make things, but is always the same, formless.  The reason she has to be formless is the same reason why clay is formless until it is molded into a statue, or the base liquid for a perfume should be scentless. So, his schematic for how the demiurge created things is that he took a Form which is like the “father” and this “enters” the receptacle (“mother”) and this union generates the creature (“child.”) Most later Platonists identified the receptacle with matter—since matter is formless until it takes a form, although I have read at least one person who interpreted it as space. I’m not entirely sure yet.

              Timaeus then takes us down a metaphysical detour. How do we know that self-existent Ideas (Forms) exist?

“If mind and true opinion are two distinct classes, then I say that there certainly are these self-existent ideas unperceived by sense, and apprehended only by the mind if, however, as some say, true opinion differs in no respect from mind, then everything that we perceive through the body is to be regarded as most real and certain” (51d-e).

We know that there are certain things that can be apprehended by the mind alone (mathematics, for example) and that our senses often deceive us. If I put a pencil into water, if I was relying solely on sense data, I would think it was broken, but since I rely more on reflection (mental process, not sense data) then they are distinct and in fact, mind is superior to sense-data. Therefore, supersensible Forms must exist that are invisible and imperceptible to the senses, only available for contemplation by the intellect. He then moves on says there are three natures in the universe that existed before the universe: being, generation, and space. Being is eternal and therefore invisible and imperceptible. Generation is always in motion, perceived by the senses and apprehended by opinion. Space is also eternal but is “hardly real” – we behold it as in a dream – it is where the images of the archetypal forms exist. He then describes how the elements were generated using geometry and the golden ratio, but I covered that in Part I, so I won’t subject you to that torture again.

              In a passage reminiscent of Philebus, Timaeus analyses excessive pleasure and pain. He says that they are both bad and are characterized by sudden violent changes. A change contrary to nature in the case of pain, and a sudden return back to nature in the case of excessive pleasure. The best pleasures, for Plato, are the ones that are slow and gradual – moderation is key, and extremes should be avoided. Excessive pleasure incites us to evil as anyone who has struggled with substance abuse or any type of addiction knows. Pain can also deter us from goodness – since it leads us more into ourselves – makes us more selfish. We are so focused on our own pain that we forget others. Anger, fear, rashness, and false hope all lead us astray as well – we should seek to avoid all these selfish impulses. He also urges us to seek for the divine in all things, as far as our nature allows us in order to lead a blessed life, in a line reminiscent of Theaetetus.

The parts of the body and their relation to the soul is described. The soul consists of 3 parts – the intellect which is the highest and resides in the head – it leads us to truth.  There is the irascible part which resides around the heart and it loves contention and zeal – it can make us courageous, but also reckless and foolish. Finally, there is the desiring part, which is the lowest physically and metaphorically, located around the stomach. The intellect is separated from the lower parts by the neck, so it won’t be polluted by them. The irascible part is more obedient to the intellect since it is closer, though not always. The desiring part makes us like beasts and must be tamed if we are to be fully human. That is why it is furthest away from the head, so as to not pollute it – it is devoid of all reason. Anyone who has struggled with diet knows this is true and now we can see why fasting has been so important in so many traditions – it helps us have control over ourselves. If you can’t control your stomach, you can’t control anything. In fact, Plato and most later Platonists held that gluttony was the greatest enemy of the philosophical (spiritual) life. I tend to agree, you not only show you have very little impulse control, but you feel heavy and bloated and end up being sedentary and wasting away instead of being active. It also greatly weakens the sharpness of the mind and erodes your willpower. Also, obesity is not healthy. There’s nothing good about being a glutton.

              He says that the liver is the seat of divination but that this is foolishness – we must have our wits about us (72a).  He ends up speaking at great length on other scientific topics and all the information is antiquated and incorrect. This actually goes to prove Plato’s point that it is impossible to be certain about things in the sensible realm that constantly change and so that’s why natural science shouldn’t be considered the highest art (Philebus 59b). I tend to agree; today’s groundbreaking discoveries will be looked upon as idiotic foolishness in a century or two. That doesn’t mean science is worthless, but I do see the greater value in learning about things that never change – stability is good. Also, too many people worry about having a longer life, but this is meaningless if the quality isn’t there. A shorter, better life is better than a longer and worse one (75c). What makes life better is all found in the highest part of the soul – the intellect. The difference between man and the other animals is his capacity for reason, observation, reflection, and self-reflexivity (77b), although in Statesman, the Eleatic stranger does believe that other animals (possibly cranes) may be capable of rational thought as well (263d). As I said before, Plato was a lot more balanced and less of a rigid dogmatist than many people take him and other Platonists to be. I can’t speak for other Platonists that I haven’t read, but Plato’s thought was much more capacious and flexible than he is often given credit for.

We switch gears to learning about diseases of the mind which are due to a lack of intelligence. This can be further broken down into two classes: either madness or ignorance. Once again – excessive pain or pleasure can cause diseases of the mind.

“Excessive pains and pleasures are justly to be regarded as the greatest diseases to which the soul is liable. For a man who is in great joy or in great pain, in his unseasonable eagerness to attain the one and to avoid the other, is not able to see or to hear anything rightly, but he is mad and is at the time utterly incapable of any participation in reason.” (86c)

This is a general rule of thumb we should keep. Anything that dulls your ability to participate in reason is bad and sinful and should be avoided – whether that is pain or pleasure. That’s why apatheia was so important to the ancients, particularly the desert fathers like Evagrius. In addition, he brings up his mind-bending doctrine that people are never voluntarily bad – they are just diseased. “For no man is voluntarily bad, but the bad become bad by reason of an ill disposition of the body and bad education—things which are hateful to every man and happen to him against his will” (86e). Many people will have a kneejerk reaction to reject this idea, but if they spend some time with it and let it wash over them and soak in, they will see the truth of it, especially if they are Christians. “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (Jn 8:34f), “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn 8:32), “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief” (1 Tim 1:13), “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). Christ is a physician who came to heal us. He even said he came to save the world, not to judge it (Jn 12:47).

As soon as this is mentioned, people will immediately bring up the fact that they think sin isn’t solely due to ignorance since we obviously do things that we know are bad. What they are doing here is equivocating two senses of the word “know.” It’s very unfortunate that there is only one word for this multivalent concept in English. In Spanish there is a difference between “saber” and “conocer,” in Greek “episteme” is not the same as “gnosis.” It’s the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. I think this distinction is most clearly seen in a neologism that I, perhaps providentially, just became aware of – grok. It is a term from Robert Heinlein’s book Strangers in a Strange Land. It is Martian word that is impossible to translate – but the Oxford dictionary has it defined as "to understand intuitively or by empathy, to establish rapport with." Even better is the Hacker’s Dictionary definition – “When you claim to ‘grok’ some knowledge or technique, you are asserting that you have not merely learned it in a detached instrumental way but that it has become part of you, part of your identity.” So, you may know in some detached way that you are sinning when you do, but I follow Plato and the entire classical theistic (mainly Christian) tradition that it is impossible to do so if you truly grok reality and could see the full consequences of your actions. As Heinlein masterfully and succinctly states, “All that groks is God.”

We are beset on all sides by hostile powers – demons who subject us to evil thoughts – we are not just solitary pockets of will that can easily fight back against such things, that’s why Christ came to save us in the first place. Plato says that there are two main things that cause us to act against our will. The first is being badly educated and so the educator should be blamed – but that can’t be an infinite regress – so ultimately even the educators need to be excused as well. The second is that the body produces diseases in the soul like bad temper, depression, rashness, cowardice, forgetfulness, and stupidity. The psychosomatic linkage between body and soul is understood better than ever with the advent of modern psychology and neuroscience and so we know this to be true. There are ALWAYS mitigating factors. This is something it took me a while to understand, but in the final analysis, I accept it because it is true and explains far more than the existentialist view of the mindless willpower to choose based on the incoherent notion of libertarian free will.  

              Nevertheless, we should “endeavor as far as we can, by education and pursuits and learning, to avoid vice and attain virtue” (87b). One way to do this is by focusing more on attaining good than on avoiding evil – being more positive is good – negativity has a way of sucking you into your own little world thus making you more selfish in your self-pity. We need to avoid the extremes of excessive zeal for the truth that alienates us from our fellow human beings and having too little zeal, which is even worse, it makes us ignorant – a waste of the gift of intellect. Plato was a proponent of strong mind, strong body – we should exercise both (88c). Interestingly, he said that medicine should be a last resort – try to heal your body naturally first, which I think is good advice as well (89b). In the last post, you learned that proportion was huge for Plato – it was how God united the sensible and intelligible realms. We should exercise the 3 parts of the soul in due proportion – which is not equal – the intellect is the most divine part and should be used the most.

“He who has been earnest in the love of knowledge and of true wisdom, and has exercised his intellect more than any other part of him, must have thoughts immortal and divine, if he attain truth, and in so far as human nature is capable of sharing in immortality, he must altogether be immortal, and since he is ever cherishing the divine power and has the divinity within him in perfect order, he will be singularly happy” (90c).

He then ends with a warning, if you don’t exercise the intellect you will be reincarnated in various different classes of bad things. I obviously don’t think that is true and I’m not sure if he did, though I’ve seen enough to think that he did. Either way, it doesn’t really matter as long as we take it for what it is: an urgent summons to seek the divine through the most divine part of ourselves – the intellect. And we must remember that it is all for our own good because this divine power will make us singularly happy as he says. I truly believe that and hope to hold onto that until my dying breath, by the grace of God.